dance in private space open to the public

pictured: Alfonso Cervera and Cydney Watson in the work of Crystal Sepúlveda at Summercamp's ProjectProject, photo credit: Andrew Mandinach

homeLA is a performance project dedicated to bringing dance process to residential space.

homeLA provides a platform to independent dance, body-based, sound, and intermedia artists at various stages of their careers to develop new works and one-of-a-kind performances in response to the architecture and ethos of Los Angeles homes. During one to three month rehearsal periods artists work collectively and consider some of the project's central questions:

how do we share space?

how do we live differently in Los Angeles?

what happens when we value creative process?

homeLA invites a mobile audience to private homes throughout the city to experience intimate live performance.

"I have nothing but the highest regard for homeLA and what it has done for our community." -Vic Marks, artist

"homeLA has truly changed the landscape of dancing/performing in LA. I am so grateful to have been a part of it both performing and witnessing." -Christine Suarez, artist

"homeLA is such an important creative staple in this city." -Stephanie Zaletel, artist

People

reflections

"It came unexpectedly and I had not planned for the impact it had upon my being. To witness unknown bodies reacting to an unfamiliar space-to see them speak, move, or exist in this space was exciting. It was full of magic, full of possibilities and the chance to see one and oneself to go beyond their familiar. The first three years have just been building blocks to all the ways in which a story can be told. In these next three years I have no doubt HomeLA will stretch itself into new spaces--spaces they had not been aware possible-it will dig itself into uncomfortable and forgotten spaces and continue to show us just what it means to BE."

"Before working with Rebecca Bruno and the artists involved with homeLA // Frogtown, I didn’t have much of a relationship with dance. I had admired it from afar, but hadn’t thought much about what goes into making one and never felt fully confident about how to watch, what I was looking for in performances. This is something I often run into working in contemporary art as well, work can feel inaccessible to those without specialized knowledge. Besides being all around amazing and lovely to work with, having the homeLA performers in the space through the early rehearsals, a public open rehearsal, and the performance, was this incredible lesson in watching dance. You see the process and have the opportunity to witness and discuss what goes into making a performance. The art becomes more and more approachable through witnessing the labor and dialogue between the dancers, choreographers and organizers. Being privy to this process works to teach you how to watch dance, how to look for technique, and process, the logic of the movements, the relationship to space, the engagement (or not) of the audience. Hosting a homeLA was an incredible opportunity for Women’s Center for Creative Work, and is a testament to the power of relational projects across the arts."

- Sarah Williams, Managing Director of the Women's Center for Creative Work and host at homeLA//Frogtown

"Hosting homeLA and working with dancers in my space is an experience that still lingers. While a studio is a place filled with activity it serves as a passive space, in that it provides the physical space for works to be created, its architecture and personality is ignored. I calculated the importance of my studio, my home, in how much floor and wall space could accommodate my projects but never once questioned - does the wall, the floor have potential, stories beyond?

The dancers and performers activated a new life to my studio's physical plant. They found new purpose, new meaning, new paths in places I never thought twice about. My kitchen, no longer just a kitchen, my paintings waiting on the wall between shows provided context and visual play while dancers placed themselves in front of them, falling, dancing, standing still. All the spaces demanded their deserved recognition, and once I became aware of this I was more than happy to give it.

While the space being transformed physically was fascinating for me to witness and experience, opening up an intimate space that I keep very private, in the beginning conjured up certain anxieties and challenges. A 1,300 square feet space filled to the brim with my own history, memories collected and kept to be accessible at all times for my own art practice now had to make room for new ideas, new bodies, different thoughts, different stories. It was overwhelming to say the least. But in the process of hosting the rehearsals, and then the wonderful performances, in watching the dancers create, seeing their ideas develop and expand, I recognized my studio was forever expansive and the ideas started to mingle and coexist.

Even after the dancers were gone, I could see their movements while I worked and it sparked new curiosities and demanded exploration of new idea and thoughts. The dancers became ghosts, like the other ghosts I keep in the studio, something, someone, I look to for inspiration, for motivation, for meaning behind a stoke of paint that I lay down."

-Michelle Jane Lee, artist and host homeLA:studio//The Brewery

Friends

Many people and organizations have been integral in the formation and continuation of the homeLA project. We would like to thank: